Halloween is approaching, and the windows of our cities are filled with sinister pumpkins with eyes and mouths. But what do we know about the benefits and traditional uses that it offers us? This tasty fall vegetable that comes from Central America has a multitude of properties. Discover them here! Today we bring you closer to the properties of the pumpkin.
Pumpkin benefits
Due to its large amount of antioxidants and vitamin C, it strengthens the immune system, which at this time needs a boost to avoid colds; helps clear mucus from bronchial tubes, lungs, and throat; favors the functioning of the pancreas, regulating blood sugar levels; reduce the cholesterol; the significant contribution of vitamin A that helps us to treat cataracts.
Reduces the risk of certain types of cancer such as prostate, lung, stomach, or bladder, and heart disease, thanks to its high content of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. Its high fiber content helps intestinal transit. It has iron and folic acid, necessary to prevent anemia. Potassium gives it diuretic and cleansing properties. For the care of our hair, nails, and skin, it provides us with iron, calcium, zinc, and magnesium.
Pumpkin uses
In addition to the benefits that its consumption offers, it also has other medicinal uses. If we prepare with the pulp of the pumpkin, it can help us get rid of minor skin defects such as pimples, spots, freckles, soft wrinkles, and burn scars.
Adding virgin olive oil to these compresses helps us reduce rheumatic pain by rubbing the area to be treated and to combat hemorrhoids. Placing pieces of raw pumpkin directly on our forehead will eliminate migraines and migraines. Boiled serves as an anti-inflammatory or to lower fever.
Pumpkin in the kitchen
This vegetable is used to prepare both sweet and savory dishes. A comforting pumpkin cream soup with carrots and onion cannot be missing from a good fall menu. It can be added to rice or sauteed vegetables. One of the lesser-known but tastier and healthier preparations is roast.
The pumpkin: uses, properties, and health benefits
We can cook it whole in the oven or, if we want it to be faster, peeled and chopped, adding salt and aromatic herbs to taste. It is perfect for making cakes or biscuits, in the same way that carrot cake is prepared. These are just a few of the multitude of possibilities that pumpkin offers us in the kitchen.
Four benefits of pumpkin, the superfood of fall
It is the ideal vegetable to consume in autumn. Full of properties and with very few calories, the benefits of pumpkin are innumerable; we review some of them with El Periódico Verde.
Autumn is the best time to enjoy pumpkin, a digestive vegetable full of beneficial properties for our body. The Green Newspaper details four of the many benefits of this superfood. And it is that the pumpkin is a cucurbit that contains a large number of nutrients and that, in addition to being exquisite, can be prepared in hot or cold dishes, sweet or salty, and much more.
Exquisite and nutritious
The pumpkin is a berry, the fruit of a creeping plant or groundcover type, which, under the hard shell, has a juicy pulp of different flavors and textures, depending on the variety chosen, and hides the seeds in its heart.
All superfood varieties have a high content of soluble vegetable fiber, proteins, minerals such as iodine, calcium, potassium and magnesium, Vitamin C, folic acid, and vitamin B2 and B6.
It is a superfood that can be cultivated but also grows wild and from which flowers, fruit, seeds, and leaves are consumed (the latter in small quantities due to their strong flavor).
Pumpkin is an excellent food to enjoy in the fall.
Regarding its nutritional values, in general, all superfood varieties have a high content of soluble vegetable fiber, proteins, minerals such as iodine, calcium, potassium and magnesium, Vitamin C, folic acid, and vitamin B2 and B6. On the other hand, its fat and calorie intake are minimal.
As for its four most outstanding benefits:
1. Ideal for dieting
With a content of 90% water and many nutrients, pumpkins are one of the superfoods, which can not be missing in the diet of those who want to lose weight or maintain it.
It has fiber vegetable that helps digestion and provides a large number of minerals and trace elements.
It has vegetable fiber that helps digestion and provides a large number of minerals and trace elements. In addition, it is very versatile to prepare and pairs with many other foods.
2. Anti-cancer
Pumpkin is rich in beta-carotene, a pigment that gives it color and is transformed into vitamin A.
Pumpkins have a high percentage of beta-carotene, a pigment from the group of carotenoids, which gives this superfood its characteristic orange color and can transform itself into vitamin A when the body needs it. This is a substance that, according to several studies, helps prevent the appearance of some types of cancers.
3. Excellent for optical health
Vitamin A is vital for good eye health, and pumpkin is a superfood that provides up to two and a half times the amount of beta-carotene or provitamin A needed each day.
In addition, it contains two essential antioxidants: lutein and zeaxanthin, which prevent the appearance of cataracts and slow down the development of macular degeneration.
4. Essential for cardiovascular health
The amount of potassium in the pumpkin helps regulate blood pressure reasonably, strengthens myocardial tissue, and maintains general cardiovascular health. Several studies have shown that, to have controlled blood pressure, it is not only necessary to reduce sodium intake but also that it is necessary to take an adequate dose of potassium.
What is pumpkin or squash good for? This vegetable is not only part of sweet and savory recipes due to its versatility, but it also has nutritional properties and exciting benefits for our health. Of course, to make the most of the properties and benefits of pumpkin, make it organic and local.
The pumpkin or squash is the fruit of an annual creeping horticultural plant native to Central America that belongs to the botanical family of Cucurbitaceae, like the watermelon, melon, or cucumber. We can find different types of pumpkins, easily differentiated by their size, skin color, and pulp.
There are different varieties of pumpkin so that we can enjoy them in season practically all year round.
Nutritional value of pumpkin or squash
For every 100 grams of pumpkin, they provide us with only 30 kilocalories.
Out of 100 g of pumpkin, 90 g are water, 5.5 g are carbohydrates, 1 g is vegetable protein, 0.5 are fat, and 2.5 g is fiber.
Regarding micronutrients, we can highlight that squash is a vegetable with vitamins such as C, E, B6, B3, B2, B1, A (beta-carotene), and B9; and minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, and zinc.